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As Donald Trump and Ted Cruz Soar, G.O.P. Leaders' Exasperation Grows — DES MOINES — Republican leaders are growing alarmed by the ferocious ways the party's mainstream candidates for president are attacking one another, and they fear that time is running out for any of them to emerge …
Discussion:
Shakesville, Outside the Beltway and Power Line
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Stay Sane America, Please! — In January of 2017 someone will stand at the U.S. Capitol and deliver an Inaugural Address. This is roughly the place where Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan once stood. I am going to spend every single day between …
Discussion:
Washington Monthly and Washington Post

Brody File Video Exclusive: Ted Cruz's Plea To Iowa Pastors At Private Meeting: Stop Trump! — In video obtained exclusively by The Brody File, Ted Cruz says it's up to Iowa pastors to stop Donald Trump from winning the Iowa Caucus or the billionaire from New York will be, unstoppable.
Discussion:
RedState, Politico, Daily Kos and The Daily Caller


Donald Trump Says Ted Cruz Is Telling ‘Lie After Lie’ — Less than one week before the pivotal Iowa caucuses, Republican frontrunner Donald Trump said that his rival Sen. Ted Cruz is “just saying lie after lie” about his record. — “He's so nervous,” Trump told ABC's George Stephanopoulos …
Discussion:
Politico, Political Wire, Associated Press and abc13.com


Trump: Establishment rallying behind me to stop ‘nasty’ Cruz
Discussion:
ABC News, Politico, Washington Post, Hot Air, CNN, The Liberty Zone and Washington Examiner

Heidi Cruz Is Asked On The Radio If She Is “Sleeping With An Immigrant”
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo and Mediaite


We checked if 2,000 voters recognized the 2016 candidates' faces. Here's what we found. — Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are by far the most recognizable faces in the 2016 race, a poll conducted by Morning Consult and Vox has found. — Ninety-six percent of respondents to the online poll …
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CNN/ORC Poll: Donald Trump dominates GOP field at 41% — Washington (CNN)Donald Trump has hit a new high in the race for the Republican nomination, according to a new CNN/ORC Poll, with more than 4-in-10 Republican voters nationwide now saying they back the billionaire.


Cruz-Hating Republicans Need a Reality Check — Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity. This sound aphorism may have a less pithy political corollary: Never attribute to strategy what can be explained by emotion. — Only this truth can help us understand …
Discussion:
Mickey Kaus, Bloomberg Business, Washington Post and Business Insider


Trump: I'll work with Democrats — Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is stressing his bona fides as a dealmaker who'd be able to enter the White House and work with congressional Democrats to hammer out agreements. — “I think I'm going to be able to get along with Pelosi …
Discussion:
RedState

Poll: Evangelicals flocking to Trump
Discussion:
RedState, Washington Post, Political Wire and Hot Air

2 Abortion Foes Behind Planned Parenthood Videos Are Indicted — HOUSTON — A grand jury here that was investigating allegations of misconduct against Planned Parenthood has instead indicted two anti-abortion activists who made videos of the organization. — In a statement …
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Houston Grand Jury Indicts David Daleiden For Organ Trafficking, Issues No Charges Against Planned Parenthood
Discussion:
abc13.com, ThinkProgress and Little Green Footballs

Grand jury in Texas indicts activists behind Planned Parenthood videos
Discussion:
Fox News Insider, Truth Revolt and The Last Refuge

Grand Jury Takes No Action Against Planned Parenthood In Houston, Two Videographers Indicted
Discussion:
Mother Jones, The Daily Caller and NPR

Why we must rethink solitary confinement — Barack Obama is president of the United States. — In 2010, a 16-year-old named Kalief Browder from the Bronx was accused of stealing a backpack. He was sent to Rikers Island to await trial, where he reportedly endured unspeakable violence …
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Obama bans solitary confinement for juveniles in federal prisons
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FiveThirtyEight and Balloon Juice


Is Nominating Bernie Sanders a Worthwhile Gamble? — Hillary Clinton's supporters have yet to make a persuasive case that Sanders is too great a risk. — For the better part of a year, Bernie Sanders enjoyed a polite if slightly bemused welcome from the non-radical quarters of the Democratic firmament.
Discussion:
CANNONFIRE, MSNBC, Common Dreams, No More Mister Nice Blog and Slantpoint
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Clinton losing support among N.H. Dems, Sanders ahead by 16
Discussion:
WBUR and Political Wire

A remarkably moving thing happened at a Bernie Sanders rally today in Iowa
Discussion:
New York Times, Hot Air, The Daily Caller, Vox, Politico, Business Insider and Taylor Marsh


The Silent Death — A couple months ago I wrote about a controversial study which reported the rising mortality rates among middle aged whites - a trend which broke the model of ever-decreasing mortality rates across racial groups in the United States and all wealthy industrialized countries worldwide.
Discussion:
New York Times

Sarah Palin, Rage Whisperer — DONALD J. TRUMP has made a shrewd bet. For the first time since he descended an escalator in Trump Tower last June to announce that this time, he really was running for president, he ceded control of his campaign message. He handed the Trump-bedecked podium over to Sarah Palin.
Discussion:
Politico


Why D.C. Hates Ted Cruz … In the three years since he arrived in the U.S. Senate, Ted Cruz has become easily the most hated man in Washington—a fact he's now using to his advantage as a presidential candidate. But why? — Is it true, as Cruz would have it, that the dreaded GOP …
Discussion:
RedState and Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times
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Cotton leads effort to sink sentencing overhaul
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Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times and Power Line


Republicans should vote for John Kasich in New Hampshire — NEW HAMPSHIRE REPUBLICANS can do their party a critical service on Feb. 9 by voting for an experienced political figure with a record of results, and thus dealing a blow to the divisive, demagogic candidates running on nativism and other political simplicities.
Discussion:
abc13.com, Washington Post, Politico and FishbowlDC
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Watch: Oregon militant challenges Chris Christie to sumo wrestling to end standoff — An armed protester at the Malhuer National Wildlife Refuge says the militants will end their standoff if Chris Christie can beat him in one round of sumo wrestling. (YouTube)
Discussion:
New Jersey Online, Political Wire, PoliticusUSA and Talking Points Memo


Video suggests Clinton shared info that ‘would never be on an unclassified system’ normally — A 2013 video, obtained exclusively by Fox News, raises fresh questions about how Hillary Clinton handled sensitive information at the State Department. — In the video, veteran diplomat Wendy Sherman reveals …
Discussion:
Hot Air, Mediaite, The Daily Caller, John Hawkins' Right Wing News and Washington Free Beacon